The present invention relates to a method of controlling an elevator installation with several elevators. The passengers input their travel wishes in the form of destination call inputs by way of a destination call input apparatus. An elevator control measures at least one traffic criterion, which characterizes a traffic intensity, of the elevator installation, wherein the elevator control allocates the elevators in an energy-optimizing manner to the destination call inputs of passengers. The present invention further relates to an elevator installation for carrying out the above-mentioned method.
Modern elevator installations operate in a manner controlled by destination calls. A passenger inputs his or her travel destination by way of a destination call input apparatus so that an elevator control can select an elevator from several elevators for corresponding destination call inputs in a cost-optimizing manner and allocate it to this passenger. The cost optimization is in that case influenced by the optimization criteria of waiting time, travel time to the destination location or maximum transport performance.
In modern elevator installations low energy consumption is frequently extolled, wherein, however, savings are achieved in the region of drive technology or mechanics of the elevator installations and not through the form of elevator control or form of allocation of the passengers. This is partly due to the fact that the demands on elevator installations on the one hand to make available a maximum transport performance and on the other hand to operate in an energy-saving manner are in part mutually contradictory. In that case there is to be understood by transport performance primarily that the operator of the elevator installation expects a required filling of a building in specific times and maintenance of the average waiting times predetermined for the elevator installation.
A group control for elevators is described in European patent document EP 0 246 395 A1. According to this patent specification, elevators of the elevator installation are allocated in a cost-optimizing manner to the destination calls input by passengers so that minimum waiting times result and transport performance is increased. In that case a complicated control circuit which undertakes this above-described cost optimization is used.